


When it Rains

by VampirePaladin



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Developing Relationship, F/M, Rain, Restaurants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 05:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5527910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alfred is a frequent customer at Cinnamon Duke.  Normally, he is happy and cheerful.  When it rains he becomes much less talkative and clearly unhappy.  On those rainy days he is always seated in Lien's section.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When it Rains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kirakirakirari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirakirakirari/gifts).



> Inspired by the song [When it Rains](https://youtu.be/qMF4B3wDO_E) by Eli Young Band. For Daphne aka nyoameviet.

Every restaurant had its regulars whether it was fast food, a family restaurant or a fancy French place. The Cinnamon Duke had its regulars too. There was the middle aged woman that came with her daughter every Sunday. At 11:30 AM every work day the man in the grey pinstriped suit came and scarfed down lunch at an impressive rate while always giving the impression of having good table manners. Every day at 4:15 a young blonde man with glasses came in. Then there was the trucker that came an hour before closing but always tipped very well.

The man that came in at 4:15 always stuck out to Lien. He wasn’t particularly tall or short, about 5’9” or 5’10”, perfectly average. His blonde hair was always just a bit wild. Hamburger, French fries, and a Coke was his usual order. Sometimes he’d get a piece of pie. The man was all smiles and would talk to anyone that would listen. He looked like he was pretty close to Lien’s age, but he walked with a cane.

It was a Saturday and the rain had been pouring down from the heavens since long before dawn. There were still customers, people did need to eat, but they had less than a quarter of what they would have had if the weather had been a touch more pleasant.

At about 4:15 the blonde man was there, one of the few regulars to show up today. The greeter led the man to a table in Lien’s section. She liked serving him. He tipped well even though Lien wasn’t as good at smiling and acting cheerful as the rest of the wait staff was. When it was sunny out everyone liked having him in their section.

Lien stepped behind the counter, scooped ice into a red, plastic glass, and filled it full of bubbling Coca-Cola. She went to his table and set the glass in front of him, pulling a straw from an apron pocket. 

“I’m Lien. I’ll be you’re server today.”

“I know,” he said. “You’re always my server when it rains.”

“It’s because you are unhappy when it rains.” It was a rather blunt way for Lien to put it. “No one else wants to do it. You are always smiling and joking with everyone on most days but when it rains that all goes away.”

“I’ve never seen you smiling.”

“I’ve never been very good at it. Do you want your usual?”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine.” He handed her the unopened menu. 

She took it from him and then headed back to punch in his order. It wouldn’t take long for the kitchen to make, ten, maybe fifteen minutes. There was an order ready for one of her other tables. She fit everything onto a brown, plastic tray and carried it out. By the time she brought it out and took care of the refills at a two other tables, the burger and fries were ready. 

She brought them and a fresh Coke out to the table with the young man.

“Cheeseburger, fries and a refill.”

“Thank you,” he said. 

“Is there anything else that you need?”

“No,” was all he said.

He ate his food in silence and when it came time to settle his bill he gave Lien just as good of a tip as he normally did. The man paid with a card, like usual. This time Lien paid attention to the name on the restaurant’s copy: Alfred Jones.

While Lien did see him again during her normal shifts, it was awhile until the days she worked and the rain coincided once again. Like always on these days the greeter seated Alfred in Lien’s section.

“Hello, Lien,” he said when she approached his table. His cane was leaning against the chair next to his.

“The usual?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t like rainy days, do you?”

“I think I prefer them over sunny.”

That was not the answer she was expecting. She was so sure that he must hate the rain. For her, long stretches of rainy weather was common back in Vietnam so the rain had never gotten her down.

“Why?” 

“Because no one expects you to be happy on rainy days.”

“So people expect you to be happy when it is sunny,” Lien wasn’t sure herself if it was a question or a statement. Either way, Alfred didn’t say anything to her. So after a few awkward seconds she walked away to get his soda and to put his order in.

They didn’t speak anymore that day except for what was generally required between a customer and a waitress bringing him his food. 

“Good things can happen on rainy days,” Lien said to him on his next visit.

“They can,” Alfred agreed, “but if you are already unhappy then anything good is a pleasant surprise.”

“The usual again?”

“Yes.”

On Lien’s days off she paid attention to the weather forecast. She thought her idea was silly. Her Taiwanese roommate thought it was romantic and just like out of a drama or manga. Lien really had no idea where Mei got that idea from.

The next time it called for rain on her day off she went to the Cinnamon Duke at around four. She waited just inside the front door, watching out the plated glass. When she saw him walking up she pushed the door open and went out to meet him.

Her green umbrella kept the rain from hitting her, but that did nothing to stop the water soaking up the legs of her pants or the puddles splashed by the passing cars.

“Hello,” Lien said.

“Hi, are you off today?”

She nodded. “Let’s be unhappy.” Lien had thought of several different things to say and they all flew out of her mind and left only the bluntest version

“What?” He looked confused. Alfred tilted his head to look at her over the rim of his wet glasses.

“I was thinking you’d like some company in being unhappy.” This was not a good idea. She definitely should not be doing this.

“I don’t mind being lonely, but I wouldn’t mind being with someone else.”

Lien didn’t smile, after all she really wasn’t very good at it, but right now she was happy. Maybe that defeated the purpose of offering to be unhappy with him, but she didn’t care. She moved to walk next to Alfred, on the side that didn’t have the cane, and held her umbrella to cover both of them.

It was the first of many dates.


End file.
